It arrives in August. Or 2025. The date matters less than the fact that the Leapmotor B05 is coming to Australia, and the small EV hatch market is already drowning.
BYD Dolphin? MG4? They have room at the top now. The B05 is rear-wheel drive. Two trims. Two battery choices. It’s a wedge entering a very tight door.
Leapmotor claims 50:50 weight distribution. They say they tuned the chassis in Italy. With Stellantis.
That’s the partner connection. The folks who own Alfa Romeo and Maserati helped make the car go round corners without tipping over. Nice pedigree. Maybe.
The pricing? Drive-away. If you buy it between July 1 and September 20. A special window. You won’t miss the numbers in the full spec sheet below but know this: they are aggressive.
Drivetrain Details
Speed matters when charging. Leapmotor says a 30 to 80% rapid DC charge takes 16 minutes for the Style. Eighteen minutes for the Design LR. Not bad.
There’s a heat pump standard. Also vehicle-to-load. 3.3kW output. Plug in your tools. Run your party speaker. Be practical about it.
Warranty and Care
Six years on the car. 150,000 km. That covers you for most of your ownership. Eight years and 160,001 km on the battery.
Roadside assistance matches the battery. Eight years. Capped-price servicing lasts eight years too, though they haven’t told you how much it costs. Wait and see. Intervals are strict: 12 months or 20,000 km, whichever comes first. Don’t let your mechanic complain.
Safety First
ANCAP? No rating. Euro NCAP? Nothing.
But the hardware is there.
- Adaptive cruise control
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Driver attention monitoring
- Front cross-traffic assist
- Intelligent speed limit assist
- Lane-keep assist
- Emergency lane-keep assist
- Rear cross-traffic assist
- Surround-view camera with transparent chassis
- Rear parking sensors
- Tyre pressure monitoring
- Full suite of airbags: front, side, curtain, far-side
That transparent chassis view? Handy when parking tight. Or trying to explain to your partner why the wheel rim is now gone.
What Comes With It
Two trims. Style and Design LR.
The base Style is loaded. 19-inch alloys. Tire inflator. Launch control—wait, launch control on a hatch? Yes.
The interior features:
- 8.8-inch instrument cluster
- 14.6-inch central touchscreen
- Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto
- Satellite navigation
- Built-in dashcam. Saves your neck if you get rear-ended.
- Wireless phone charger
- Cloth seats
The Design LR upgrades things. A bit more luxury. A bit more pretense.
- Panoramic glass roof with shade
- Rain-sensing wipers
- Leather upholstery (TechnoLeather, whatever that is)
- Heated steering wheel. Good for winter mornings.
- Heated front seats
- 12-speaker sound system. The Style only has six.
- Power mirrors. So you don’t have to lean out.
Colors
Lightning Yellow. It’s loud. It’s the standard.
If you want to pay extra—$990 premium—you get options:
- Galaxy Silver
- Windy Grey
- Metallic Black
- Starry Night Blue
Interior choices are limited. Grey cloth for the Style. The Design LR splits hair into Light Grey and Shadow Grey leather. No blue leather. Sorry.
It’s just a car. Small, electric, quick. Is it better than the BYD? Maybe. The tuning was done by Italians, after all. Does that guarantee fun? Hard to say.
Drive one. Then tell us.
